Cream of Italy Soup

This is a quick, tasty and low calorie lunch that I enjoy on school days when break time has to be brief and energizing!

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken broth*
¼ cup spaghetti sauce*
2 TBS fat-free sour cream
Additional basil to taste

Combine broth and spaghetti sauce in a medium saucepan and heat to almost boiling. Add fat free sour cream and stir until blended. Add basil to taste.

Serve with 2 tablespoons of salad croutons and Parmesan cheese.

Serves 1
100 calories (includes garnish)

*This recipe can be made vegetarian by substituting vegetable broth and vegetarian sauce

Easy Flavored Crispy Crackers

My husband likes saltines with butter, making “butter sandwiches” with them and refers to saltines as his guilty pleasure. I share that same box of saltines and call them “lo-cal treats”

This is a quick and flavorful recipe hat is a big and tasty part of my Wife 1500 program! I discovered Kernel Seasons through the Skinny and he City website, a place I recommend for their great ideas in fashion and food. This simple recipe uses Kernel seasons flavor shakers to make saltines a wonderful indulgence.

**note – I use regular cooking spray instead of the popcorn spray the Kernel Seasons sells, because regular cooking spray has no added salt. The first time I made crackers using this method, I made the Parmesan Garlic seasoning, but I’ve since used the caramel and the Kettle Corn seasonings for a sweet crispy treat too

Crispy Crackers

8 regular or unsalted Saltines
Butter flavor cooking spray
Kernel Seasons popcorn flavoring of your choice

Lay the 8 saltines out flat on a microwave safe plate. Spray each cracker with the cooking spray. Shake the popcorn seasoning over the crackers.

Microwave the crackers on high for one minute. The seasoning will be lightly brown.

Enjoy as a snack or with soup or salad, warm or cooled!

8 Crispy Crackers contain 100 calories.

Kernel Seasons is available at many retailers and online at http://www.kernelseasons.com

Easy Alfredo Linguine

Easy Alfredo Linguine with Lover's Shrimp Scampi

This new recipe is the perfect complement for Lover's Shrimp Scampi! It combines the butter and garlic flavors of the Scampi with a creamy hint of Parmesan cheese.

Easy Alfredo Linguine

2 servings of linguine noodles cooked and drained.
1/4 cup half and half
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
garlic and parmesan cheese to taste

After draining linguine, return it to the pot you cooked it in. Add all the sauce ingredients and stir. Allow to sit, covered, for about 2 minutes to thicken sauce slightly and serve with "Lovers Shrimp Scampi."

Apples and Wine

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This is an old European family remedy for cold symptoms. It breaks up congestion and acts as a sedative, “sweating it out of you” and giving you a good night’s rest. Unlike so many other old world cures, this one also tastes great!

Apples and Wine utilizes the soothing effects of cinnamon, the astringent quality of cloves, the vitamin C in citrus and the antioxidants in red wine to loosen up congestion and make the cold run its course faster. It acts as a soothing mild sedative.


Apples and Wine

2 apples wedged and cored
1 bottle red wine
1 cup sugar
1/2 lemon
2 sticks cinnamon
5 whole cloves

In a medium sauce pan, combine all ingredients, leaving the spices whole and the lemon, rind and all. Stir to mix. Heat over medium high heat to boil. Allow to boil until apples are tender (about ten minutes) Remove from heat.

Burn off any remaining alcohol by striking a match and touching it to the steam coming off of the pot. If a moderate flame starts, allow it to burn off. This should only take a few seconds.

Ladle mulled wine and a few apple slices into a soup cup. Drink as hot as you can stand it to get the most decongestant benefit.

** It’s important with any old world remedy to follow the directions! No substitutions unless the recipe says it’s okay and don’t leave anything out!

Recipe makes about 3 soup cups

Noni’s Crostada

This is actually almost Noni’s Crostada. Noni never used a recipe and never measured! Yet, somehow she had consistent quality in her soups, sauces, pastas and sweets. I never took notes when I watched her prepare things in her kitchen, I just sorta took it all in!

It was years after she passed, tasting Olive Garden’s too soft, too sweet, but just reminiscent enough of her crostada that I set out to rediscover my grandmother's sweet treat!

This recipe is a combination of recipes from cookbooks and online with a liberal application of my own memories from my years as her helper in the kitchen. There was a lot of trial and error, and maybe a little intervention from beyond?

The last time I tweaked the recipe, alone in the kitchen, I was sure I heard Noni’s voice say “no so sweet!” as I dipped the measuring cup back in the sugar. It spooked me, so I put the cup down and did not add the addition 1/4 cup I was going to add.

Whether it was a gift from beyond, an over active imagination or my subconscious telling me something I needed to remember, when the baking was done, I had the flavor and texture of Noni’s crostada! Younger family members who’d forgotten her crostada tasted it and said “OH! I remember!!”


Noni’s Crostada

2 1/2 cups flour
5 TBS butter
5 TBS shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1 14-16 oz jar of jam or preserves

To make the pastry:
In a bowl, cut the butter and shortening into the flour until the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs. Add the sugar, eggs and salt and knead it quickly until it forms into a dough. Flatten the dough into a disk shape and refrigerate it wrapped in plastic for an hour.

After removing the dough from the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 375º.

Break off about a quarter of the dough and set aside. On a floured surface, roll the dough thin and cover the bottom of a 9” tart pan with it.

Generously spoon the jam on top of the dough.

Roll the remaining dough thin and cut it in strips. Create a lattice pattern on top of the jam. Optional - use whatever dough is left to roll out and make a shape for the center using the cookie cutter of your choice.

Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the pastry is golden. Allow to cool before serving.

Peanut Butter Kissed Baked Apples

The filing in these apples has a taste of old fashioned peanut butter candy kisses with a sweet fruit accent. It makes them a great fall dessert!

I’ve tried this recipe with a few different types of apples. It’s in general just a good recipe for baked apples, but the Macintosh were my favorites.


Peanut Butter Kissed Baked Apples

4 apples
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup peanuts
1/2 cup raisins and craisins mixed together

Heat oven to 350˚

Cream together butter and brown sugar. add peanut butter and stir until smooth. Mix in peanuts, raisins and craisins

Core the apples, being sure not to hollow them all the way through, so the filling stays in the apple. Fill each apple to the very top with the peanut butter filling.

Place the apples in a small roaster with enough water in it to come up about 3/4” on the apples. Bake the apples for about 45 minutes, or until the apples are soft and the tops are golden brown.

Serve warm

Rotisserie Chicken

This is not so much a recipe, but a creative kitchen spark!


The best bargain you can get at your grocery store is a rotisserie chicken! Even if the chicken is at full price for 8-10 dollars, it’s still a steal! I got ten meals, five different meals for 2, out of the last chicken I bought!

Meal 1 - Succulent warm breast meat from the chicken.

Meal 2 - Chicken in creamy gravy made with the juice from the container over rice.

This one’s an easy one! Use remaining breast meat with the drippings from the rotisserie chicken container, a little flour, salt and poultry seasoning to taste. I use a whisk while it’s cooking to keep it smooth. Serve over rice!

Meal 3,4 and 5 are after making broth!

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Meal three is chicken salad made with white and dark soup meat. The spices and extra cooking from making the soup add extra flavor to the chicken salad made with ranch dressing and shredded cheddar cheese.

Meal 4 - SOUP! Then there’s that Rotisserie Chicken Soup, using about half the stock you made.

Meal 5 - Italian Vegetable Soup


Using the rest of your broth, add about a quarter of a cabbage, chopped and sautéed lightly in a tablespoon of olive oil, and a half cup of soup noodles, like a quadritini and bring to a boil. Once the noodles and cabbage are soft, add a diced zucchini, a handful of green beans. a half can of canelli beans and a cup and a half of tomato juice. Cook until everything is ready to eat!



There are a ton of variations that I use in this soup. You can use a diced potato instead of the beans. Add that when you add the pasta. You can also add some oregano, basil and garlic to Italian it up a bit more. It’s also great served with croutons and parmesan cheese on top!

As my Noni always said, “MANGIA!”